Conclusion 25

Given that the Windrush Compensation Scheme was set up to right the wrongs done by the Home Office to a predominantly older generation, many of whom had suffered considerable hardship as a result, there should have been a clear focus from the start on ensuring that compensation could be paid as swiftly and smoothly as The Windrush Compensation Scheme 91 possible. It is therefore staggering that the Home Office first failed adequately to prepare for, resource and staff the Windrush Compensation Scheme before opening it for applications, and then failed again to monitor the performance of the scheme sufficiently and to identify the cause of the delays. The complex nature of the impacts suffered by those affected was evident both in the extensive media coverage of the scandal and in responses to the Home Office’s own public consultation on the design of the scheme: that the complexity of applications it received seemingly took the Department by surprise is incomprehensible. It has taken far too long for the Department to accept that greater increases to the number of caseworkers were required. We consider that the long waits faced by claimants were not inevitable and believe the Home Office must accept responsibility for its part in causing these delays.